June 29, 2009

Should the World Cup Ban Those Horns?: The Confederations Cup was a tuneup for next year's World Cup, but the tune of the vuvezela horns -- plastic trumpets played incessantly during matches by South African fans -- are striking a sour note with some people. "One vuvuzela -- a loud, tuneless blast -- sounds something like a foghorn. But a stadium full of vuvuzelas, all tooting simultaneously, is either a most exhilarating and exciting sound or a noise so irritating that it borders on being painful, depending on the listener," writes the Los Angeles Times. "It's been compared to a deafening swarm of wasps. Or a herd of flatulent elephants." The horns originated with a Chinese women's basketball team, according to a manufacturer that proclaims, "You only hate them if you don't have one."

The noise is insufferable on TV, but that shouldn't be the deciding factor - if they add something to the live experience then they should stay, but if they're as irritating in the stadium (and I can't see how they wouldn't be even worse live than they are on TV) then ban them.

Having said that, it's an African world cup and from what I've seen of the African Nations Cup in past years, African supporters seem to love the incessant noise.

I think they'd be crazy not to ban them, with the exception of games where South Africa is playing. It's bad TV. You can't hear the crowd react to anything. Even on goals the horns drown out the cheers within seconds. Part of what makes the World Cup so great is the response from the crowds.

Can anyone argue in favor of the vuvuzela without using a slippery slope argument?

If they ban the vuvuzela, they will ban whistles, megaphones, boom box stereos, and my bitchin' Camero with the best sound system you'll ever see! No one will be allowed to clap or cheer. All the spectators will have to where suits and ties and speak in a whisper, and only at halftime. The stadiums would have 20,000 hall monitors and only 12,000 soccer fans.

Ban the vuvuzela! The vuvuzela creates soccer atmosphere like microphone feedback buzzing creates music. A little bit is fine (I love Nirvana, for example), but you can't have 90 minutes of nothing but that shit without rhythm or melody and call it a double album.

No one wants to ban fun. No one wants to ban noise. Banning the vuvuzela would make the games funner to watch at home and in person. If you've ever been to a hockey game at the old Chicago Stadium, a football game at the Big House, or an important soccer game anywhere, you should be able to understand that games can be loud and fun without vuvuzelas.

There is not a meaningful tradition of vuvuzelas. They were pushed at soccer games in the USA in the early 90s in ignorant efforts to create soccer atmosphere. Now, they aren't around and US soccer crowds are enthusiastic and fun, with most MLS games having many supporters singing and chanting throughout the game. The OP article says that they weren't used in South Africa until a decade ago.

If the South Africans truly love them, let them in for the games with South Africa. But if Brazil is playing South Korea, I'd like to hear the Samba drums and Korean chants.

If you can't understand that it is possible to ban vuvuzelas without banning everything else, I don't know what to say to you. You really do not have anything to add to this thread.

Whether or not the spectators "should" have them to enjoy the game, TV viewers should not be accosted by the noise. TV audio engineers ADD background sound to the telecast to give viewers the feeling of being at the game. While it would be awfully sterile to have only the announcers voices and no background sound, the balance could be adjusted. There's no reason why the TV audio engineers couldn't compensate for the annoying buzz. Even creating a digitial filter would not be all that difficult. The broadcasters are trying to give us the feeling of being at the game, but it the constant buzzing adds nothing to the viewers experience.

It's like a rock concert broadcast. If you attend the live event, you're likely to have a drunk guy singing off key at the top of his lungs in the row behind you. On TV, audio engineers make sure the the concert audience is at best a dull roar of applause between songs.

Oh stop crying people, I didn't hear anyone complain about the excessive noise when the damn Thunder Sticks where brought into the fold in basketball games and those things are as annoying. The vuvuzela actually made the Brazil sqaud sound like they were attacking the US in swarms, killer bees style. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....